This past Wednesday, Jim Ross made a one-night-only return to AEW Dynamite to call the Tornado Tag Team main event that pitted Sting and Darby Allin against The Don Callis Family’s Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs. The legendary announcer has been off AEW programming since November, having only appeared since this past Wednesday and last month when Dynamite was held in his home state of Oklahoma, in order to allow some lingering injuries to heal.
Amidst his absence, Ross’ current AEW contract is said to be close to expiring. Last July, he admitted on his podcast that he doesn’t have a lot of time left on his current contract and went into further detail a month later, where he discussed his optimism about signing a new deal with the company.
Now, after a few months of silence on the matter, a new update has come to light on Good Ol’ JR’s AEW status. Writing in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that Ross has signed a short-term extension with the company after his previous deal, which lasted a year and a half, expired a few months ago. The extension will keep Ross with AEW until February 14th with Meltzer speculating that the move is notable given that it was signed when the company already knew Ross would not be absent for the majority of its length.
Ross has been with AEW since early 2019 as both a commentator and senior advisor, though he has become far less active on-screen ever since suffering a fall prior to the debut episode of AEW Collision last June. Ross still appeared on the show but announced afterward that he would be taking a hiatus. He has since made sporadic appearances to provide commentary for various main events across Dynamite, Collision, and pay-per-views but has yet to make a full-time return to the promotion.